The Government will invest 441 million euros to increase water efficiency and drought adaptation processes in the Algarve, Alentejo and Madeira, according to Portugal's Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).
In the document, released yesterday for public consultation, the Government considers that it is necessary to “mitigate water scarcity and ensure the resilience of the territories of the Algarve, Alentejo and Madeira, the regions with the greatest need for intervention in Portugal”.
With regard to the Algarve, 200 million euros will be allocated to the Regional Water Efficiency Plan, with the aim of increasing water efficiency, improving drought adaptation processes and contributing to environmental objectives.
In this sense, plans will be implemented in the region to reduce water losses in the urban sector, to increase efficiency in the agricultural sector, to increase the available capacity of reservoirs, to promote the desalination of sea water and to promote the use of treated waste water.
In Alentejo, it is planned to create a strategic water reserve, which will be an alternative to public supply and will allow the establishment of new irrigation areas.
This investment of 171 million euros, to be made in Crato, Alentejo, will respond “in an integrated manner to situations of extreme drought” and reduce the “probability of occurrence of floods”.
This is considered by the Government as an “anchor project for the economic recovery of the Alto Alentejo region”.
In Madeira, the Water Efficiency and Reinforcement Plan for Supply and Irrigation Systems will have an allocation of 70 million euros to optimize the use of existing resources.
It also intends to capture “surplus water without any impact on ecosystems, the constitution and expansion of strategic reserves and the interconnection of different water sources, which are essential for safeguarding uninterrupted supply, in the context of Adaptation to Climate Change”, says the document.
Portugal's Recovery and Resilience Plan foresees 36 reforms and 77 investments in the social, climate and digital areas, costing a total of 13.9 billion euros.
After a draft presented to the European Commission last October and a process of talks with Brussels, the Portuguese Government today placed the preliminary and summarized version of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) in public consultation, which stipulates “19 components, which in turn integrate 36 reforms and 77 investments ”.
The executive justifies that, “based on the diagnosis of needs and challenges”, three “structuring dimensions” were defined - that of resilience, climate transition and digital transition - to which 13.9 billion euros will be allocated, in non-repayable grants from European post-crisis funds.
In the document, 2.7 billion euros in loans are also foreseen, but a source from the executive guarantees that “it is not yet assured” that Portugal will resort to this aspect of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, the main instrument of the new Recovery Fund. the European Union.
It is expected that the largest share (61%) of the PRR funds will go to the area of resilience, with a total of 8.5 billion euros in grants and 2.4 billion euros in loans.
Original article available in Portuguese at http://postal.pt/
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